England could face tough France test if they drop into World Cup playoffs

Things could get mightily tricky for the Three Lions if they don't beat Poland on Tuesday night, where Sweden would also be waiting

Bad memories: England v France could be a rivalry reignited - with the highest possible stakes

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England may face a monumental clash with cross-channel rivals France if they fail to automatically qualify for the World Cup on Tuesday.

on Friday means England just need to book their ticket to Brazil, but anything less could see them drop into the UEFA playoffs where Les Bleus could well be waiting.

The amount of teams still in the running for second place in their groups - not to mention the fact that points garnered against the bottom sides won't count - makes it very difficult to work out who will be in the playoff running, but combined with the FIFA World Rankings, it is possible to make some deductions.

As an example of its complexity, Croatia are the highest-ranked team that could even feature in these playoffs but may miss out altogether if they lose to Scotland, as their points gained against bottom side Macedonia are taken away - making their world ranking of 10 redundant.

However, if the Croats do get a result against Scotland then they will be second seeds for the playoffs. Proving just how fine the margins are.

Nonetheless, here are some other deductions on who England's possible opponents might be:

France are all but certain to head for the playoffs now, but their world ranking of 25 means it will be difficult for them to be one of the four seeded teams. SEVEN other potential playoff sides are ranked higher.

England are the fourth-highest ranked side that could face the playoffs and therefore would be seeded.

Sweden would be another of the four potential opponents for Hodgson's men, with there being less than 1% chance of them achieving a seeding if England falter on Tuesday.

England would be VERY unlikely to face either Portugal, Greece, Bosnia or Croatia .

Bulgaria and Armenia are both fighting Denmark for Group B's playoff spot, and would have a high chance of facing England.